This blog has been developed to facilitate interactive conversations about the Maynard School District. Individual student or personal matters must still be discussed privately with the appropriate personnel in the schools.

Friday, January 31, 2014

This is an
opportunity for Maynard
High School students in
the junior class. The American Legion
and Auxiliary invite students to participate in the Massachusetts
Boys State
and Girls State selection process. Each year
American Legion Posts and Auxiliary Units sponsor one or more high school
juniors for the Boys State and Girls
State citizenship
program. This is a unique opportunity for young men and women from Maynard High School
and Acton-Boxborough
Regional High
School to gather for a fun-filled week of
exploring how our government works.

For more
information about Boys and Girls
State see the brochure
posted on our website at:

In an effort to
streamline these notes, I will remind the Superintendent’s Notes readers of
important upcoming events with a reference to the blog where more information
can be found.

Acton-Boxborough,
Maynard and Sudbury
SEPACs present:

BASIC
RIGHTS in Special Education Workshop

This workshop is designed to
help parents learn to be effective partners with their child’s school to decide
their child’s eligibility for special education, and to plan, make decisions
and monitor their child’s progress in school.

Date/Time: Monday,
February 3, 2014 7-9pm

Location: Fowler School,
3 Tiger Road, Maynard, MA

The Basic Rights workshop
provides families with an introduction to their rights and responsibilities
under:

A presenter from the
Federation for Children with Special Needs will conduct this workshop.
Federation workshops are free to parents and open to the public. You are
welcome to attend any workshop in or outside of your immediate community.

Friday, January 24, 2014

This workshop is designed to help parents learn to
be effective partners with their child’s school to decide their child’s
eligibility for special education, and to plan, make decisions and monitor
their child’s progress in school.

Date/Time: Monday, February 3, 2014 7-9pm

Location: FowlerSchool,
3 Tiger Road, Maynard, MA

The Basic Rights workshop provides families with
an introduction to their rights and responsibilities under:

A presenter from the Federation for Children with
Special Needs will conduct this workshop. Federation workshops are free
to parents and open to the public. You are welcome to attend any workshop
in or outside of your immediate community.

Excel Winter
Schedule

EXCEL provides
outstanding programming that aligns with the district focus on 21st
Century Learning Skills. The learning
that takes place around STEM, Foreign Language, and Creative Music programs are
wonderful opportunities that many communities cannot match!

The Green Meadow
PTO asked me to remind all parents that the EXCEL Winter Schedule can be found
at the following link:

MaynardHigh
School has some mentoring programs and also looks for
adults in the region to help students who are looking for an internship or job
study as part of their Senior Project.
If you are interested in helping Maynard students, please contact me.

In addition, we will be planning a Maynard Public
Schools Community, Business Partnership Breakfast this year. At that breakfast we will recognize all of
the businesses and community members that currently work with our students and
will have an open invitation to other members of our business and greater
community to explore if we can increase those partnerships. As we firm up a date, I will post it on this
blog.

MaynardHigh
School has some mentoring programs and also looks for
adults in the region to help students who are looking for an internship or job
study as part of their Senior Project.
If you are interested in helping Maynard students, please contact me.

In addition, we will be planning a Maynard Public
Schools Community, Business Partnership Breakfast this year. At that breakfast we will recognize all of
the businesses and community members that currently work with our students and will
have an open invitation to other members of our business and greater community
to explore if we can increase those partnerships. As we firm up a date, I will post it on this
blog.

Acton-Boxborough, Maynard and Sudbury SEPACs present:

BASIC RIGHTS in Special Education
Workshop

This workshop is designed to help parents learn to
be effective partners with their child’s school to decide their child’s
eligibility for special education, and to plan, make decisions and monitor
their child’s progress in school.

Date/Time: Monday, February 3, 2014 7-9pm

Location: FowlerSchool,
3 Tiger Road, Maynard, MA

The Basic Rights workshop provides families with
an introduction to their rights and responsibilities under:

A presenter from the Federation for Children with
Special Needs will conduct this workshop. Federation workshops are free
to parents and open to the public. You are welcome to attend any workshop
in or outside of your immediate community.

Important Events
and Reminders:

In an effort to
streamline these notes, I will remind the Superintendent’s Notes readers of
important upcoming events with a reference to the blog where more information
can be found.

Excel Winter Schedule

EXCEL provides outstanding programming that
aligns with the district focus on 21st Century Learning Skills. The learning that takes place around STEM,
Foreign Language, and Creative Music programs are wonderful opportunities that
many communities cannot match!

The Green Meadow PTO asked me to remind all
parents that the EXCEL Winter Schedule can be found at the following link:

Friday, January 10, 2014

The GreenMeadowSchool
will be holding Kindergarten Registration for the 2014-2015 school year on
Tuesday, January 14th from 9:00 a.m. to noon, Wednesday, January 15th
from 9:00 a.m. to noon and Thursday, January 16th, from 9:00 a.m. to
noon. There will also be an evening
registration on Wednesday, January 15th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Children must be 5 years old before September
1, 2014 to enter kindergarten. At registration, parents must present their
child’s birth certificate, record of immunizations, recent physical exam, and
proof of Maynard residency. This could
be a utility bill, a lease, or a tax receipt.
Driver’s licenses will not be accepted as proof of residency. If you have any questions, please call GreenMeadowSchool at 978-897-8246.

Green
Meadow Preschool Information Night

The
Green Meadow Preschool Program will be holding an Information Night on
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 from 7:00 – 8:00 PM. The Green Meadow
Preschool Program offers preschool for children 3 – 5 years old.

Parents
who are interested in enrolling their child for the 2014 - 2015 school year are
invited to attend. During the evening parents will have an opportunity to
learn about our program, meet our staff, visit our classrooms, and ask questions.

The
snow date for Information Night will be January 22, 2014. For more
information call the Maynard Public Schools Department of Student Services @
(978) 897-2138. Come and learn about
this exciting, NAEYC accredited program!

Enjoy a delicious treat at Orange Leaf
in Acton and
help support the Maynard Education Foundation!

Please come support the Maynard Education Foundation (MEF) at Orange Leaf (255
Main Street, Acton) on Wednesday, Jan. 15th
from 6 p.m.- 10 p.m. Orange Leaf will generously donate 15% of the total net sales to MEF
(http://www.maynardeducation.org). Proceeds
from the evening will support MEF's grant program for Maynard teachers and
administrators.

Please contact mefgrants@gmail.com with
any questions or check out our Facebook page for more information.

Thank you for your support!

Revitalize Maynard Collaborative (RMC)
will be hosting a Community Conversation

This is just a friendly reminder that the
Revitalize Maynard Collaborative (RMC) will be hosting a Community Conversation
event on Thursday, January 16, 2014. The
event will be held from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at the Maynard Public Library in the
Roosevelt Room. Socializing and
refreshments will start at 6:30 PM. We
look forward to an exciting talk with Michael Kanter to learn how Cambridge
started it's "Shop Local" program, and how we might create our own
initiative in Maynard.

EXCEL provides
outstanding programming that aligns with the district focus on 21st Century
Learning Skills. The learning that takes
place around STEM, Foreign Language, and Creative Music programs are wonderful
opportunities that many communities cannot match!.

The Green Meadow
PTO asked me to remind all parents that the EXCEL Winter Schedule can be found
at the following link:

Unfortunately I was unable to accept the invitation to attend the MHS Engineering class this week. However, I heard that we had two very special
guests. In Addition to being MHS
graduates, Tom and Fred Hunter are WPI graduates and are currently employed as
engineers at Kiva Systems. They talked
about their preparation at MHS and the transitions to College and the workforce. Don Holm reported to me that it was excellent
and on behalf of Maynard Public Schools, I wanted to personally thank them in
my notes.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Questions &
Answers Regarding the Third Grade Location for the 2014-15 School Year

Why is moving 3rd grade to Fowler being
considered?When
the new High School was being proposed, the MSBA required the eighth grade to
be included in the project to make the project large enough for them to
consider. There was discussion that
Green Meadow was overcrowded at that time and perhaps they could occupy the
vacant space at Fowler.

School Committee Assistant Chair Kohlman has kept his own
enrollment data over the last 13 years and has done an analysis of his
data. He has compared the NESDEC
enrollment projections to his data as a cross reference as well. Dr. Kohlman’s analysis affirms a projection
that moving 8th and 3rd grade will balance each of the
three Maynard schools to a population of about 500 students. The question remains, will that be the best
use of space for instruction at each school.

Some Staff members have expressed a concern
that if the High School ever got too crowded, would there be a need to shift
the 8th and 3rd grades again?

Using the last three years of very high enrollment
increases at all three schools, Superintendent Gerardi had queried whether the
8th grade would be able to stay at MHS if the enrollments continued
to increase. Dr. Kohlman’s analysis
identified that the projections suggest that the new MaynardHigh school
should be able to keep the 8th grade class at that location. This should alleviate any concerns that we
will be moving grades back and forth over the next decade.

What are the space issues at Green Meadow?Green
Meadow Parking as well as pick-up and drop-off outdoor space is
challenging. Of all of our schools,
Green Meadow has the least amount of parking for staff and visitors. Green Meadow also has the most congested
pick-up and drop-offs.

Currently the English Language Learners (ELL) Teacher
does not have her own class and is sharing a classroom with the Excel Program. Many spaces in Green Meadow are shared.

The Preschool this year required the use of an additional
classroom and next year there will be a need for another additional classroom
due to increasing enrollments.

Which option will cost the district more money?

The
committee has identified the cost to move the third grade to Fowler would
include an additional bus, moving expenses and curricular materials. These
costs would add up to approximately $65,985.
Some of these costs would be reoccurring and others would be a onetime
cost:

How would students be dismissed and dropped off?Like
Green Meadow there are entrances and exits for lower and upper grade students.

Will the amount of recess and lunch time remain the same?

Yes,
these schedules at Green Meadow will be similar at Fowler.

If 3rd grade moves up to Fowler, does the 5th
grade move to a wing that is more like a middle school?The
5th grade would be physically moved upstairs but would still be
isolated in one wing and still be run as an elementary model for instruction,
supervision, and management.

How will assemblies address the needs of this age range?

Fowler has whole
school assemblies once in great while for special events. During those events, students are seated by
grade and their teachers sit or stand near them. However it is more common for Fowler to have
community meetings by grade level.

How will the administration address the needs of such an
age range in terms of posters, decorations, bathroom facilities, height of
water fountains etc.?As
we toured Fowler, we noticed that most of the wall hangings are student work
and any other posters tend to be motivational and appropriate in nature. In regard to the facility, Principal Mela
reminded us that Fowler was never built as a Middle School. It was designed as a school that houses two
schools within a school and has always operated that way. All of the bathrooms have low and lower
facilities to accommodate both elementary as well as middle aged students.

Should mixing 8 year old students with 12 year old
students on the bus and during unsupervised times before and after school be
concerning for families?

The
younger kids are assigned to sit in the front of the bus and the older kids are
assigned to sit in the back. Principal
Mela gets on the bus to remind students of this regularly. Principal Mela identified that it is human
nature to have some disciplinary issues in any school, which is why Assistant
Principal’s are needed to help educate students to be good citizens and school
community members. His experience
during the last 12 years at Fowler as an Assistant Principal and Principal is
that on the bus or in the halls, the older students tend not to interact with
the younger students. During most of this time the range of student’s ages were
9 to 13. While current age
separation on the bus has been a functional model to maintain discipline, there
are still concerns that the proposed range of students on the bus is an
opportunity for inappropriate language or behaviors to occur.

Will moving 3rd grade to Fowler impact the Title I
program and services?

Yes, it would have a negative impact. Because our Title I program is a targeted
program for Green Meadow School only, the third grade students would lose the
additional instructional benefits (primarily small group or 1:1 support in
reading) that the Title I targeted services.

Will moving 3rd grade impact students with IEP's?

Due to the larger number of special
education services provided at Green Meadow, it was suggested that
communication for parents and program efficiencies for improved academics for
students with IEP's could be realized by moving the 3rd grade to Fowler.

What is the current status of places for children to play
outside at Fowler (currently no playground and 4th and 5th
and recess is generally in the field)?

The
School Committee is aware of the lack of a playground at Fowler for the 4th
and 5th grade students and asked Principal Mela to start a playground
committee last year. School Committee Chair,
Amy Rebecca Gay, has submitted a CPC Grant and placed this request on the
Maynard capital improvement plan for funding as of July1, 2014. She and Principal Mela are doing this in
advocacy for more play space for the 4th and 5th grade
students. If this playground is funded,
it could be constructed in the summer of 2014 and ready for the next school
year.

Although
there is a plan in place for the Fowler playground, concerns have been raised
that if the plan is delayed, it might make sense to delay the move by one more
year to make sure everything is in place.